What Was The Number?

Three Penguins were having a competition about who could count the most snowflakes during a winter storm. It was a pretty tight competition with each Penguin pretty much keeping up with the others since counting doesn’t really require that much skill. All you needed to be a good counter was good concentration and a knowledge of how numbers worked.

“I’m up to 15,000 snowflakes!” Said the Frunty, the first Penguin.

“Well, I’m up to 14,494 snowflakes! I’m catching up to you!” Said Scundi, the second Penguin.

“Oh yeah, well I’m at... I’m at...” The third penguin, Thurston, hesitated, “I’m at...”

Thurston had forgotten what number he was at for counting snowflakes. He couldn’t believe it. Now he would have to start all over again. This was a disaster. He had worked so hard to count all the snowflakes he could and he couldn’t believe all that hard work was going to go to waste because he couldn’t remember the number he had gotten to.

The other penguins waited to hear what Thurston had to say, it wasn’t like him to forget the number he was thinking of. Thurston was one of the surest counters they knew. All five of the other Penguins stopped counting and focused on Thurston.

“There must be a way to remember how many snowflakes I’ve counted,” thought Thurston, “Maybe I could use a memory tool.”

Thurston jogged his brain for a memory tool as all 8 of his Penguin friends continued trying to offer their encouragement. It was nice, Thurston realized, to have 20 of his closest friends around him during this difficult time, cheering him on.

“You can do it, Thurston!”

“You’re the best counter there is!”

“I don’t mean to be the 12th person to say this to you, but you’re great, Thurston!”

Thurston tried hard, he racked his brain but alas, he had forgotten how many snowflakes he had counted. The only thing left to do was to let his other 48 friends know that he couldn’t remember the number he was on and start over.

“We’ll start over with you,” said Fruity.

“Yeah, it’s only fun if we’re all counting together,” agreed Scundi.

So the three friends started counting again and kept on counting till they couldn’t count anymore.